Ivanovic to Face Sharapova in Semis at BNP Paribas Open
March 16, 2012 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Serbian Ana Ivanovic has gained a position in the semifinals of the 2012 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif. with a straight set 6-3, 6-4 victory over Marion Bartoli. Ivanovic now goes onto play Russian Maria Sharapova who needed over three hours to defeat fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko in three sets. Sharapova broke Kirilenko three times in the final after Kirilenko’s father and coach came on the court with her down 0-4.
Bartoli, who was a runner-up at Indian Wells in 2011, asked for a doctor to come out on court in the second set. She had felt sick earlier in the day and felt that she had the same illness that took out many of the other players in the two-week tournament. “Even though we didn’t have very long rallies, I was feeling really out of breath,” she said. “Then I was having a lot of joint pains and feeling shaky and very cold. It was quite hot, so I knew I was not in a good shape. Even though I lost it, I just felt like I needed to stay there until the end.”
Bartoli did break Ivanovic to open the match, but Ivanovic would quickly take control and break in the second to finish off the match in just under two hours. Ivanovic now moves into her first semifinals of the 2012 season. She has returned to the top 20 in the WTA Rankings after falling to 65th in 2009.
“When you’re young and upcoming you don’t have these experiences. You don’t know what to expect or what the consequences are,” she said. “Then with so many experiences and everything, it does help you at some points, but also it sometimes creates a doubt because you analyze and think too much."
